I want to register my huge concern at the proposal to build new houses on the meadows adjoining the A338 in the centre of Salisbury.

Having lived here for most of my life I feel they are an essential part of the beauty and character of our city and how ironic that the development is put forward this year when we are expecting so many extra visitors to the Cathedral and Close with the Magna Carta celebrations and the Turner Exhibition.

Of course there are other reasons to object, the regular flooding and the traffic nightmare it would cause. It is already quicker for me to cycle in from Harnham than to drive at peak periods.

I hope the strength of local feeling plus common sense will dissuade the landowners, St Nicholas Hospital and Longford Estate, from including these meadows in proposed sites for new housing.

ELIZABETH ROBINSON Salisbury